Reports surfaced in March that special counsel Robert Mueller was examining documents pertaining to incidents involving Cohen.

Cohen's lawyer said in a statement that the search was "completely inappropriate and unnecessary", and Trump called it "disgraceful" in impromptu remarks. It's possible that there is evidence of Cohen's involvement in other domestic crimes unrelated to Russian Federation and that Mueller's probe is focused on Cohen's worldwide activity on behalf of the Trump Organization. Evidence that attorney Michael Cohen made payments ahead of the 2016 election to silence women alleging they had affairs with Trump was also a focus of the search.

The fraud claims prompted speculation that he may have misled banks over the reason for the large payment, made shortly before the president won the 2016 United States election. Trump has said he didn't know about the payment.

But when the occasion warrants it, authorities have the ability to waive this provision.

Trump has canceled his scheduled trip to South America, sending Vice President Mike Pence in his place, ostensibly because John Bolton, his new national security adviser, told him he needed to stay in Washington to handle the Syria matter.

Under Justice Department regulations, Mueller must consult with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when his investigators uncover new evidence that may fall outside his original mandate.

"At that point, anything to do with that entire incident is, I would argue, not attorney-client privilege, " said Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor who practices law in Chicago.

Avenatti declined comment when asked whether Daniels has been contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Justice Department in connection with the Cohen raid.

The White House has denied the affair.

The new details on the Cohen raid, first reported by The New York Times, emerged as the president boiled over on Twitter about it and evidence that investigators are zeroing in on his inner circle.

Monday's events renewed concerns that Trump could try to act against Mueller, who was appointed previous year by the Justice Department to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential collusion by Trump's campaign.

Investigators were seeking documents related to possible bank fraud, as well as potential campaign finance violations, according to The Washington Post.

The payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has drawn scrutiny from watchdog groups as an in-kind contribution to Trump's campaign meant to influence the 2016 election.

There have been few signs that Mueller was interested in investigating the payment, though. "If he had taken the usual lawyers' advice to clients and referred all questions to the lawyers and declined comment, I don't think we would have seen this raid and I don't think this lawsuit would be any big deal".

A White House official said Trump had been watching TV reports, and that the President knew about the raid before the news broke.

He continues to say there was nothing improper about how the Daniels matter was handled but that's impossible to believe.

If Trump tries to scupper the probe, it could set in motion a series of events that eventually threaten his presidency.

Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, sent letters to the Trump Organization demanding the business preserve all its records relating to the $130,000 transaction. The Democrats discussed immediately calling for document preservation and how to press Republicans to join them.

Cohen has long viewed his legal career through a pragmatic rather than high-minded lens, said former Cooley Law School classmate Greg Crockett, now an attorney in Okemos, Michigan.

Using the metaphor of putting a final nail in Cohen's legal coffin, he says, "That had better be a really sturdy pine box".

Daniel's cooperation is part of federal agents' broader investigation into Cohen, NBC noted.

On Monday, the firm said in a statement that its relationship with Cohen had "reached its conclusion, mutually and in accordance with the terms of the agreement".

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